-6RADIATION EXPOSURE AND DEGENERATIVE DISEASES In a 1975 study of physician radiologists of Epidemiology, Vol. 101, No. 3, pp. (American Journal 199-210), Matanoski, et al., found a significantly higher cancer and leukemia incidence rate among those physician specialists who were accidentally exposed to x-rays during treatment. This finding is important because x-rayS are very similar to gamma rays, one of the types of radiation atomic veterans were exposed to. In addition to cancer and leukemia, radiologists in the study by Matanoski developed a plethora of diseases having statistical Significance, including diabetes, and hypertension. cardiovascular disease, stroke, Interestingly, Matanoski noted an age-related gradient in relation to the incidence of disease: there were more diseases among older radiologists than among youncer radiologists. This, says Matanoski, is probably due to refinements in the x-ray procedure over the decades. In another interesting and quite relevant study, Elkeles (Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, No. 4, pp. 179-82) 1977, Vol. XXV, discovered a close relationship between atherosclerosis and ingestion of alpha particles, Atheroscler- osis is a form of arteriosclerosis in which fatty substances deposit in the inner walls of the arteries and can lead to cardiovascular disease and heart problems. The sioanificance of the Elkeles study is that it demonstrates a significant causal link between ingestion of alpha radiation and cardiovascular disease. This is especially important in light of the fact that an untold number of the 250,000 atomic veterans